Looking for Your Old Pension?

About once a month, we receive a call from a former printing industry worker looking for the administrator of their old pension plan. Typically in these situations the company has moved, changed names, or possibly gone out of business. If you were unionized it is possible the union has moved or changes names as well. However, you must realize that all of these plans have "vesting requirements" that you must have satisfied during employment in order to receive benefits.

Tips for Searches:If you think you might be eligible for a company-sponsored traditional "defined-benefit" pension plans (not a 401(k) plan), you need to determine if the company is still in business and where the corporate office is. Due to merger and acquisition activity in recent years, this can be a challenge. Newspaper archives at local public libraries are often your best resource to determine the current name of the company and their location. Internet searches may also help as well.

If the company went out of business it is possible that the federal government took over the pension plan and is still holding benefits for you. See http://www.pbgc.gov/.

If you were a union member, it is possible that there is a union pension plan that is still holding benefits for you. The union pension plan could have been a national or local plan. In the printing industry, there are five national union pension plans that exist today. They are the following:

If you believe that your pension fund was a local plan and part of the former GCIU - Graphic Communications International Union, GAIU - Graphic Arts International Union, or the IPGCU - International Printing and Graphic Communications Union, you should contact the Graphic Communications Conference (GCC) of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at (202) 624-6800 for help to determine which local you belonged to. Note that some locals have merged over the years and your old local number may not be used anymore. For the International Typographers Union (ITU), which is now the Printing, Publishing, and Media Sector Workers of the Communications Workers of America (PPMSW/CWA), call 202-434-1238.